Your Honor, we offer into evidence . . .

Spotty says success has a thousand fathers while failure is a orphan. Exhibit A for this proposition is Geoff Michel's slippery interview with James Zwilling of the Edina Sun Current, printed in the July 28th edition. Michel is understandably in full damage-control mode after the legislature and governor's lamentable performance in the last session. But, he tries to take credit for things that weren't his doing, and dodge responsibility for things that were.

I was part of a bipartisan push for an historic $800 million increase for K-12, the largest two-year increase in the state's history," he said.

No you weren't Geoff. You stood in front of town hall meetings in Edina and Bloomington and told the people there that you agreed with the governor that a two percent increase was sufficient. It was the DFL Senate that held out for more. And remember, one of the reasons that the increase in this biennium is so "historically large" is that $185 MILLION was wrung out of the last one, making almost a quarter of the increase merely catch-up to where we were before Senator Michel took office.

Edina and Bloomington schools will see benefits from the session, Michel said.

The 4 percent per pupil funding increases for each of the next two years will mean millions of dollars for Edina and Bloomington public schools, he said.

Remember, this is twice what the governor originally proposed, and Geoffy agreed with the governor.

Michel said the lack of a comprehensive transportation package is the biggest disappointment of the 2005 session.

"We need a balanced highway and transit plan that will address our need over the next decade."

Yeah, transportation was a disappointment, Geoffy. Spotty says it is just too bad you were a contributor to the disappointment you putz. His lament is sort of like the guy who kills his parents and then asks for mercy from the court because he is an orphan. Let's take a little stroll down memory lane here.

Ron Erhardt (and Neil Peterson, too) voted for a good roads and transit package in the House, along with just a couple other Republicans and all or virtually all of the DFlers. In fact, Rep. Erhardt was a principal sponsor of the bill. This bill also passed the Senate, with every DFLer voting for it, and every Republican against. The governor vetoed the bill and went out of his way to knife Ron Erhardt in the back in the process. Why?

The bill called for a nickel a gallon increase in the gas tax which has not been raised to even keep pace with inflation for years. The governor and his faithful side kick Geoffy wouldn't support that, because it violated the No New Taxes Ever, I Really Mean It, Cross My Heart and Hope to Die pledge signed by each of them.

Spotty understands that Edina Mayor James Hovland wrote a critical letter to the governor over this position.

Michel joined a bipartisan group created this year called the 2020 Caucus that he hopes will address some of those issues. The 20-member group is focused on finding solutions to the demographic challenges presented by the retirement of the baby boom generation.

Spotty says Geoff Michel is probably the most shameless self-aggrandizing politician ever from Edina. He can join organizations until the cows come home, but he votes like the faithful party flak that he is.

Regrettably, the Sun Current does not accept letters from quadrupeds. However, any of Spotty's readers who would like to write such a letter should feel free to borrow from Spotty. Be a little more respectful, though.

The wit and wisdom of Geoff Michel . . .

A faithful correspondent sent in a couple of Senator's Michel's recent ponderings:

"I feel like I've been let out of jail,'' said Republican Sen. Geoff Michel of Edina [in response to a question about what it was like to have the session over] in the July 9th StarTribune.

It's probably just one of those hyperbole kind of things. Anyway, Senator, you will be pleased to know that there are people working even now to spring you permanently.

And then the following day: "I'm going to bark up a few trees," said Sen. Geoff Michel, R-Edina, who is spearheading the Gophers stadium effort. "I don't want to lose the momentum that the university has gathered."

Spotty barks up trees once in a while, but it is usually because there is a squirrel up there. Barking up trees seems kinda counterproductive, momentum-wise.

Go back and check out part one . . .

After you read You will be known by the company you keep, part two, go back and read, or reread, part one.

You will be known by the company you keep.

Part two.

On Spotty's other blog, The Cucking Stool, there is a new post about William Cooper's activities in the establishment of charter schools. The reasons this is news over here is because of the connection between the Coop and our senator, Geoff Michel.

Spotty's readers will recall that Senator G signed the No New Taxes Ever, I Really Mean It, Cross my Heart and Hope to Die pledge of the Taxpayers League, of which Cooper was a founding force. They will also recall that the Taxpayers League gave Michel a 100% rating. That means, among other things, he supports school vouchers, guaranteed to exacerbate the public school funding crisis.

Michel was also a chief sponsor of a bill to build a new Gophers stadium on campus, financed in part by giving the naming rights to TCF, owned by, you got it, Bill Cooper.

Geoff Michel sits on the Education Committee. Do you suppose he is Cooper's plant?